Billion-dollar deal: Russia to sell space rocket engines to US company

Russia’s design bureau NPO Energomash is to deliver 60 RD 181 engines for the Antares rocket first stage to American space technology manufacturer Orbital Sciences Corporation. The total cost of the deal is about $1 billion.

“We are committed to deliver 60 engines. Three options have
been signed, each for 20 engines,” Vladimir Solntsev,
executive director of Energomash, told the Izvestia newspaper.
“There is a firm contract for 20 engines, which we have
started fulfilling, as we are due to supply the first two engines
next June.”

According to Solntsev, Russia’s government has already issued all
the permits required for the deal. The contract envisages
restrictions for the use of RD-181 engines in military programs
as those rockets cannot be used for military goals.

Following an engine failure and subsequent explosion during the
Antares launch in October, the company halted all launches,
struggling to find a replacement. The reliability of the RD-181
and similar engines made it the best choice, Orbital’s vice
president for space launch strategic development, Mark
Pieczynski, told Aviation Week in December.

The engine was developed specially for Antares and it allows more
cargo to be delivered to the International Space Station and to
low orbits. Using new technologies and materials the engineers
managed to increase the motive power to 186 tons.

The total cost of the deal is estimated at $1 billion. This sum
includes not only the price of the engines but a set of services
as well. Energomash will provide flight preparation, training,
engines installation and its test operations.

According to Solntsev, the US would have to spend about $3
billion to develop its own engine for Antares and the process
would take up to 10 years, without guarantee of success. That’s
why Energomash plans to cooperate with Orbital Sciences
Corporation for 15-20 years.

“I believe the contract is focused on cooperation over 15-25
years, as no one will regularly change engines on a rocket,”
he said.

Energomash is Russia’s leading rocket engines producer. The
company has cooperated with the Orbital Sciences Corporation
since 1990, delivering RD 180 engines for Atlas rockets. Later,
the AJ-26 engines, based on the Soviet NK 33, were used for
Antares.

The Antares rockets are also used to launch Cygnus, OSC’s new
automated cargo spacecraft, which is part of NASA's Commercial
Orbital Transportation Services program.

Last April, the US halted cooperation with Russia in other spaсe
programs apart from the International Space Station program.
However, the sanctions do not apply to Energomash. Long-term
cooperation in other programs is still under discussion, however.